Failure to Maintain Required Refrigerator Temperature Logs
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that temperature monitoring logs for unit refrigerators and freezers, which are used to store outside foods brought in for residents, were completed as required. Observations and interviews with the Registered Dietitian revealed that temperature logs were missing or incomplete for several units, including Cypress, Juniper, Woods, and Redwood, as well as for personal refrigerators and freezers in specific resident rooms. The logs were only sporadically completed during the month, with some units having no recorded temperatures for extended periods. The facility's policy, revised in February 2023, requires a written record of daily temperatures for cold food storage. At the time of the survey, the Registered Dietitian confirmed that the required temperature monitoring logs were not maintained as stipulated by facility policy. This deficiency had the potential to affect all 115 residents receiving food from the facility kitchen, including twelve residents identified as receiving nothing by mouth (NPO), out of a total census of 142.